Save me
by SPNfan16
Summary: Julia's life is in ruins; her friend has disappeared, she works a boring 9-5 job, and she's married to a man who abuses her regularly. Her old friend Sam Winchester and his brother arrive in town. Can Sam save her from the pain? Sam/OC. Please r r!
1. Forbidden

_Disclaimer- I own nothing that you recognise._

**A/N - Hi, this is just something that popped into my head and I had to write it. It's a Sam/OC story, rated M for violence and some sexual scenes later on in the story. I hope you enjoy****!**

**Chapter one - Forbidden  
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Julia closed her eyes and let out a tired sigh as she washed the pile of dishes in front of her; she let the calm sound of rushing tap water fill her ears and take her away from her thoughts. She could barely find the energy to stay awake, let alone put some elbow grease into her nine to five diner job. By the look on her collegues face, obviously people were starting to notice.

"Jules, the tap is kind of over flowing.."

"Shit." Julia muttered before snapping her eyes wide open and automatically reaching a hand out to turn off the tap. She then glanced down at the small puddle that was forming on the floor, and then back up to the source of the puddle which caused her eyes to widen. "Oh no!" As far as she was concerned, it was just another thing to add to the pile of rubbish that had gone wrong in her life lately. Before she even knew what she was doing, she was on her hands and knees scrubbing furiously at the floor with a cloth. She shook her head in disbelief, fear building up inside of her. "Pete is going to be so angry!"

Pete was Julia's husband, who happened to own the diner that she worked in. Infact, he happened to own almost all of the businesses in the small town. Julia was panicking because she knew how angry he got when she made silly mistakes like the one that she just had.!

"He will if you carry on digging a hole in his floor like that.." Becky shook her head as she watched Julia stress out over a little puddle, then she bent down beside her friend and gently took the cloth from her hand. "Do you want to tell me what the hell is wrong with you?" Julia looked down to the floor and shrugged. Even though Julia refused to say anything, Becky knew exactly what was wrong; she had seen the faint outline of a forming bruise at the back of Julia's neck when they had started their shift. "Pete shouldn't get angry about something as little as this!" Becky knew of Pete's temper and anger, she also knew that Pete often took his rage out on Julia; the whole town knew. But the poor woman was trapped and there was nothing that Becky could do or say to her to make her see sense.. she'd already tried everything. Julia shook her head and tried to pull the cloth away from her friend. However, Becky saw it coming and tightened her grip around the piece of cloth. "Jules, I'll clean this one up. How about you go and serve some customers?"

"Okay," Julia began hesitantly, her eyes glistening with the build up of worried tears. "Thank you." She gave Becky a quick hug and then rose to her feet and then scuttled quickly through the kitchen door and out towards the counter. Timidly, Julia looked around at all of the people that were sat in the diner; some were locals that she saw every single day, but others were people that she had never met before in her life. There was no room for shyness in the diner, Pete had told her that many times. He commanded that she walked to the counter with a smile and greeted the customers with every ounce of happiness in her body. So, Julia forced a warm smile on to her face, even though everything inside of her felt cold and broken, and walked to the counter with a hop to her step. "Hello, may I take your order please?" She questioned merrily to the two teenagers who were pondering over the menu above her.

The atmosphere in the diner was particularly bubbly and friendly today. However, inside, Julia felt completely numb.

* * *

><p>Sam Winchester scanned through his laptop and looked through the new information for the current hunt. However, his efforts of trying to do this proved to be futile because of the distraction of his brother. "Dude!" Sam muttered, finally deciding that he'd had enough. He glanced up and shot his brother a disgusted look as he watched Dean devour the double bacon sandwich that was in his hands.<p>

Dean took one look at Sam and raised his eyebrow. "What?" He muttered between bites, before closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh. "This sandwich is so amazing! I think I'm in love.."

The youngest Winchester rolled his eyes and shot another disgusted look at his older brother. "Do you have to eat it like that?"

"Hey!" Dean looked offended as he cradled the remains of the sandwich in his hands. "Beautiful food like this deserves to be treated with respect."

"Dean, you're practically tearing it apart. I'm pretty sure that isn't respect..."

It was Dean's turn to roll his eyes. He moved one of his hands from the sandwich to pull out his wallet. "Go and get me another one and then we can head back to the motel."

"You don't even have to ask.." Sam practically jumped up from his seat before grabbing Dean's wallet and rushing towards the counter. The sooner that they were out of the diner, the sooner they'd be able to start interviewing eye witnesses. Plus, the sooner they were out of the diner the more likely it would be for Sam to concentrate whilst researching.

Half way to the counter, Sam stopped mid walk. His eyes widened in surprise, and his lips curled up into a smile, as he examined the lady who was serving at the counter. "No way!" He muttered in disbelief before walking faster towards her. Sam's lips were curled into a full blown grin by the time he had gotten behind the person who was being served.

"I'll be out with your food in ten minutes." She smiled to the customer in front of Sam, who simply nodded their thanks in return before moving to sit at a table.

When they had left, she looked towards Sam and then had an almost identical reaction as he did. "Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed, her expression lighting up. "Sam Winchester?" When Sam nodded, Julia couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Hey, Bex, can you serve a customer for me quickly?" She shouted behind her before leaving the counter so that she was standing right in front of the Winchester. "I can't believe it!"

"Me either!" Sam smiled as he closed the gap between them and pulled her into a warm hug. He couldn't actually comprehend that he was seeing her after all of the time that they spent apart.

Julia hugged Sam back but then pulled away quicker than she wanted to. If Pete saw her hugging another guy then he would be so angry, and she couldn't be dealing with that.

"I thought you were still in Stanford?" Sam questioned, feeling slightly puzzled that his closest friend from college was dressed up in an apron during the spring semester.

A mix of emotions crossed Julia's face. She appeared to be fond when she was thinking about all of the good memories of Stanford but then her expression faltered when she thought about how different life was now. "Urm, I, um," Julia shook her head at her soft stuttering whilst Sam raised his eyebrow slightly. He remembered Julia as being bright, bubbly and smiley. But now she seemed reserved and quiet, and that sparkle in her eyes seemed to be faded slightly. "I'm married now."

"You're married?" Once again, Sam was wide eyed. "When did this happen?"

"A year after you left." Julia flashed her left hand forward to show him the golden band that sealed her to her husband. "My husband wanted me to work in the diner that he owns."

"But you were doing so well studying to become a doctor." Sam didn't understand it. Julia had an honest passion for studying medicine when he was best friends with her, she always loved helping anybody who needed it. The drive and ambition that she used to have seemed to have disappeared.

Julia couldn't bear to talk about Stanford anymore, so she changed the subject. "How are you doing?" Sam knew by her tone of voice that Julia was actually secretly asking about how he was coping with losing Jess. If only she knew how much he had been through since then; if only she knew that the Apocalypse was looming over his shoulders.

"I'm fine." Sam began softly, his smile faltering slightly. "I mean, I still miss her so much but it's been getting easier with time."

"Good." Julia softly placed her hand on Sam's upper arm and smiled.

"So, you staying in town for long, or here for a vacation or something?"

Sam shook his head; he could only dream about going on vacation in the line of work that he was in. "I'm here with my brother Dean. He's a detective who's looking into the disappearances." Sam hated lying to Julia but it wasn't strictly false; they were looking into the disappearances after all..

Julia closed her eyes briefly when she thought about someone who she loved dearly who had disappeared a couple of days ago. Becky was her best friend at work but her closest friend of all was Lizzie. Lizzie was her rock through her tough times with Peter and seemed to keep Julia sane. "You think he might be able to find them?" She asked hopefully.

"He'll definitely be able to." Sam promised her. "Would you like to meet him?"

"The legendary Dean Winchester?" Julia smiled brightly when she thought about how much Dean meant to Sam. The youngest Winchester didn't necessarily talk about Dean all the time in college, in fact he rarely spoke about his family, but, when he did, Julia could tell that he looked up to him. She grabbed his hand. "Lead the way then."

Sam smiled as the two travelled across the diner. Julia looked over to the table that they were heading to to see that Dean seemed to already be looking at them curiously. When they reached the table, Dean's eyes immediately travelled up and down Julia's body in appreciation. "Damn." He muttered under his breath.

"Dean! She's married." Sam hissed before shaking his head apologetically at Julia. "Sorry, he's a bit of a pervert."

Julia laughed, even though a blush had creeped it's way on to her face. "It's okay." She took her hand from Sam's and extended it towards Dean. "I'm Julia, a friend of Sam's from Stanford."

Dean took her hand without hesitation and smirked cheekily. "I'm Dean, the super nerd's hot older brother." Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's statement.

"So, you really think that you can find the missing people?" Julia questioned.

The oldest Winchester shot a look at Sam. "I told her that you were a detective and that you were going to look into the disappearances." Sam pointed out, making Dean sigh in relief before turning back to Julia with a smile.

"Yes, I think we stand a huge chance of finding them."

"Do you know any of the locals that have disappeared?" Sam questioned. He knew that if she did that it would help them massively with the case.

"I know everyone who disappeared. It's a very small town Sam, but there's one person who disappeared that I knew very well."

"Who?"

"My best friend Lizzie. She's been gone for a few days but I know that she would have told me that she was going somewhere. I tried to get the police on the case but of course they dismissed it because apparently she's old enough to leave town for a few days." Julia sighed, frustrated. "Whenever I ring her, I keep getting the voicemail. It's not like her at all!"

Dean and Sam glanced at eachother. "Do you think you could maybe take us to where she lives later? It would help us a lot with finding her."

"Definitely." Julia pulled out her notepad and scribbled down her number before handing it to Sam. "That's my new cell number. I get off of work at two.. if you give me a call around then then we'll meet and head over to Lizzie's." Julia placed a hand on Dean's shoulder and smiled warmly. "Thank you."

"Julia!"

But then she swiftly brought her hand back towards her own body and anxiously looked behind her. The Winchesters noticed the look of fear on her face and turned in the direction that she was looking in to see a man storming towards them. The man wore a thin, tight lipped expression as he glanced between the Winchesters and Julia. When he reached the three of them, he walked past Sam and grabbed Julia's arm. "What are you doing honey?" He questioned, his voice laced in sickly fake happiness. Sam couldn't move his eyes away from the way that the man was grabbing Julia; the man's hand was tightly gripping her arm and Sam didn't like it.

"I was just, um, I was-"

"You were slacking on the job, that's what you were doing." The man pointed out, his voice slightly firmer than the first time. Then he looked over at the Winchesters and forced a smile on to his face. "Honey, aren't you going to introduce me to these men? You seemed awfully friendly when I walked in..."

"I'm Sam, and that's my brother Dean." Sam spoke before Julia could open her mouth. Both of the Winchesters could see how frightened she looked and didn't like the man, who was obviously her husband, already. "I'm a friend of Julia's from Stanford. You must be Julia's husband?"

The man looked really annoyed that Sam had spoken but still smiled at him nonetheless. "Yes, isn't she lucky? I'm Peter White. So, were you studying to become a doctor too?"

Sam shook his head. "I was studying law."

"Well, I hope that you were successful," Peter began before motioning to Julia. "She was definitely not bright enough to become a doctor. It's a good thing that I managed to talk some sense into her before she came out of an expensive degree with nothing but a piece of paper."

Julia's head dropped slightly at the sound of Peter's words and Sam didn't like that one bit. "Actually, Julia is extremely clever. She was accepted on a scholarship so the college obviously thought so too. If I'm being completely honest with you, Julia would have been an amazing asset to the world of medicine." Sam could see that even though Julia's head was still dropped, she cracked a small smile. However, Peter didn't look too happy.

"She's not the brightest tool in the shed actually. Julia's good for three things: Sex, cleaning and making sandwiches."

Sam scowled openly at that, whilst Dean raised his eyebrow. He didn't have the best track record for treating women right but there was no way that a husband should speak to a wife in the way that he was witnessing.

"I'm sure that you all have so much to talk about but Julia's just got to get back to work. Isn't that right darling?" Sam noticed that Peter put more pressure on Julia's arm.

He could see that it was causing her a lot of discomfort but somehow her lips managed to curl into a smile. "Yes, I've really got to get going." Before she could, Pete spun her towards him and pressed a kiss against her lips.

"Off you go now." Pete stated as he let go of her arm. "There are dishes to do."

Julia was off like a shot and she didn't even say goodbye to Sam or Dean.

Pete watched her go before turning to glance at Sam. "It was nice meeting you." He muttered, in a disinterested manner, before walking in the direction that Julia headed towards.

Both Winchesters watched them walk off and Sam couldn't remove the scowl from his face. His closest friend, Julia, the women who was studying to become a doctor, was married to a man who obviously treated her like crap. It made his blood boil. "I don't like that man."

Dean nodded in agreement. "He seems like a grade-A asshole."

* * *

><p>Julia rushed right back to the dishes and began humming to herself in a bid to keep calm. Her nerves were all over the place. She'd just met her closest friend from Stanford again and now Peter was angry with her. Julia was certain that her husband was angry with her when she heard the kitchen door slam and lock. "You dirty, filthy whore." Peter snarled, and Julia could hear his feet stomping towards her.<p>

She spun around, only to be greeted with Peter's stern face. He had backed her up against the sink and their bodies were so close that she could barely breath. "S-Sam's just an old friend." She began in a quiet, timid voice.

Peter suddenly gripped Julia's neck between his hands, causing her to let out a yelp of surprise. "An old friend?" He snapped, his voice loud and fierce, before letting out a scoff of disbelief. "Julia, you seemed awfully pally with those guys just to be 'old friends'."

"Sam w-was a friend from-" Julia cut herself off in a bid to breathe in some air, which was a difficult task to approach due to the fact that Peter was making it almost impossible for her to breathe properly.

"Yeah, I know, he was a friend from Stanford." Peter said the name of the college as if it disgusted him, and then he let out a bitter, mocking laugh. "Aren't you forgetting that you were too stupid for that place? I'm surprised that you even got accepted into med school.. you must have slept with somebody from admissions, you filthy whore." Julia closed her eyes and tried to think of times when Peter was amazing to her. She was trying her hardest to block out all of the abuse, and she was even succeeding until Peter began to yank her hair with one of his hands. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Julia immediately opened her eyes and flinched when she saw how angry Peter looked. Even though he had such a temperamental mood all the time, and seemed to get furious frequently, she rarely saw him this angry. "Can I ask you a question?" Peter's voice was slightly calmer now, but Julia could still sense the under layers of rage. She decided a long time ago that his calm voice was much worse than his loud voice because it always made her feel so nervous; she could never tell for certain if he was actually calm or just pretending to be calm, which made him so unpredictable. Julia didn't want him to ask her a question but if she said no then she reckoned that there would be serious consequences, so she nodded.

"Do you appreciate everything that I have done for you?"

Again, Julia nodded.

Peter scoffed angrily as his grip tightened around her neck, causing her to squirm. "See, I don't think you do Julia." He began, hissing in a dangerously low voice. "I made you see sense that you wouldn't become a doctor, I took you in and gave you shelter.. I gave you a God damned job!" With each and every word, he tightened his grip around her neck. Julia began to feel slightly woozy and light headed, but she daren't move too much. "And you repay me by slacking during your shift and talking to some guys that I haven't even approved of?" Out of rage, Peter moved them both away from the sink and slammed Julia down on to the floor with all of his strength.

Julia let out a loud cry of pain as her head collided with the hard, cold floor. She turned it to face Peter, who was standing over her in an intimidating manner. "I don't know how long those jackasses are in town for but if I catch you even looking at them then there will be hell to pay. I forbid you to see them again." Peter kicked Julia in the stomach and then smirked at the sight of her squirming around on the floor. "Clean yourself up."

Listening to Peter's footsteps, Julia curled herself into a ball. She hated feeling so vunerable. As soon as she heard the door open and close, she climbed up from the floor and began scrubbing dishes furiously. How could she help Dean find Lizzie if she wasn't even allowed anywhere near them? A tear ran down her face when she realized that there was no way that she'd be able to make contact with them, she couldn't risk Peter getting angry. If she wanted to find Lizzie then she'd have to try and do it by herself.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review and let me know what you think. Should I continue?<strong>


	2. Avoiding you

_Disclaimer- I own nothing that you recognise._

**A/N: ****Trixter's paradise - Thank you for adding my story to your favourites!  
><strong>** Evelyn Simms and SamWLover - Thank you for adding my story to your story alerts!  
>SamWLover and ODLady - Thank you for reviewing my story!<br>I hope that you all like this update. :) **

**Chapter two - Avoiding you  
><strong>

Sam frowned at his cell phone when he reached Julia's voice mail again. He looked up at the clock and noticed that it was two thirty; She was either still working, busy or ignoring him for some reason or another.

"Y'know, looking at your cell every two seconds isn't going to make her pick up." Dean pointed out whilst cleaning their guns.

His younger brother raised his eyebrow in response. "I know that Dean. But something isn't right; Julia wouldn't ignore my calls."

"Maybe she's not like she used to be in Stanford?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam narrowed his eyes defensively of Julia. She wasn't the sort of person to change.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know man, she's married to an asshole, dropped out of med school to work in a diner and is now not answering your calls. Sounds like a changed person to me."

Sam thought about what his brother said and then shook his head in determination. Although it was obvious that Julia had changed, the youngest Winchester knew that it wasn't her own fault. The strong willed, determined, passionate Julia that he knew and loved had been replaced by a shy, withdrawn and vunerable looking Julia. Sam pointed the finger of blame at her husband, who he did not like at all. Sam jumped up from the bed that he was sat on, grabbed his coat and began to head towards the motel door.

"Sammy, where the hell are you going?" Dean's question caused Sam to briefly turn around.

"I'm heading out for something to eat." He stated, causing his older brother to roll his eyes.

"Dude, if she wants to speak to us then she'll pick up her phone. You'll just look clingy."

It was Sam's turn to roll his eyes this time. "Look, Dean, I'm seriously worried about her. She was my best friend back in Stanford and there's something fishy about Peter, I'm just trying to look out for her... The diners only a few blocks down, I'll be back before you know it." This time, Sam ignored his brother's calls and walked straight out of the motel room.

Dean stared at the door for a few seconds before sighing to himself; his brother would never, ever learn.

* * *

><p>Sam walked into the diner and quickly scanned around to look for Julia. However, he was only greeted with strangers and the woman who took over serving for Julia earlier. He decided to walk over to the woman because it didn't seem like she was serving anybody. "Hey, you work with Julia, right?" He began, offering the woman a smile.<p>

The woman looked up at him, slightly surprised, but then smiled too. "Yeah, I'm her friend Bex."

"Nice to meet you," Sam extended his hand and Bex took it. "I'm Sam Winchester, a friend of Julia's from Stanford.. is she around? It's just, my brother's a detective from out of town and he's looking into the local disappearances.. Julia said that she would meet us after her shift to help us with the case."

Bex pulled her hand away from Sam's and shook her head. "She finished her shift at two and went straight home." Once she had finished speaking, Bex noticed that Sam seemed to appear disappointed. She felt bad for him; when Peter left the back of the diner, he told Bex to tell Sam and Dean to stay away from Julia and that Julia, herself, stated that she didn't want to see them ever again. But Becky really felt that she couldn't do that. "Look, you need to be careful." She began, causing Sam to raise his eyebrow.

"Why's that?"

"Peter is very... possessive of Jules. He doesn't like it when she speaks to other guys and seeing as you are a guy that probably puts you on thin ice."

Sam frowned. "Erm, I think that Julia is entitled to speak to other guys."

"But, unfortunately, Peter doesn't." Bex pointed out before glancing behind Sam. "Look, because you seem like a nice guy, I'm going to tell you that every single day, at half three, Julia goes to the bakery to pick up donuts for Peter."

Sam got the hint and shot a thankful smile at Bex. "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure." Bex didn't like how Peter treated Julia at all. She was hoping that some sense would be knocked into Julia now that she had an old friend in town.

* * *

><p>Julia parked in front of the town's bakery and took a few moments to calm down. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and sighed to herself. All she wanted to do was answer her phone and stop ignoring the Winchesters but Peter's threat was always in the front of her mind.<p>

_There would be hell to pay._

She shuddered at the thought of that. Peter had said that a few times before and she had ended up with broken bones for stepping out of line after that threat. Julia didn't want to cross the line with that sort of threat, so, no matter how much it upset her, she needed to stay away from Sam. After all, how hard could it be? She hadn't seen the man for four years before he arrived in town. It would be easy.

Julia placed her cell phone back into her pocket and then got out of the car. She walked towards the bakery, which Peter owned, and hummed lightly to herself. But she stopped when she saw her reflection in the window of the bakery; She'd managed to clean herself up after Peter's outburst that morning. Her wavy blonde hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail, she wore a hooded jacket to hide the bruises on her arms, and a scarf to hide the bruises on her neck. The rims of her eyes were still red from crying but were much better than they were earlier in the day. Julia decided that she'd just tell people that she had a cold or something.

She shook her head and braced herself to walk into the bakery.

* * *

><p>"So, how is Peter?" The old woman who worked in the bakery asked Julia, as she bagged up the donuts for her.<p>

Julia shrugged casually and forced a smile on to her face. "Y'know Pete, he's always so busy with meetings. He's doing fine now."

The old woman smiled in return. "Good. You're lucky to have a man like that; he provides you with such stability."

The expression on Julia's face was so forced and fake by this point. If only the old woman knew what Pete was really like.. then maybe he wouldn't be singing daily praise for him. Every single time that Julia brought donuts, the old woman would badger on about how great Peter was. "Yeah, that's my Pete." Julia made herself grin as she took the donuts from the old lady. "Look after yourself Deloris." She watched as Deloris scribbled something down on to Peter's tab.

"Okay deary, tell Peter that I said hello."

Julia turned around and headed towards the door. "I will." But when she looked outside, she froze. Sam was walking towards the bakery and he had spotted her, because he was waving and smiling. "Oh no." Julia closed her eyes momentarily, took a deep breath to steady herself, and left the bakery. She avoided all eye contact with the approaching Winchester as she rushed to her car, Pete's threat stuck in her mind.

"Julia?" Sam called out as he reached her. He raised his eyebrow when he noticed that Julia was ignoring him. "Jules, hello? Have I done something wrong?"

Julia felt really guilty when she noticed the confusion and hurt in Sam's voice. She quickly glanced around her and then looked up to Sam. "Look, I'm sorry, but you can't speak to me anymore."

"What?" Sam questioned, confused. "Why not?" Julia went to turn back to her car but Sam gently grabbed her arm, causing her to flinch and pull her arm away. She turned to face him and sighed. "Have you been crying?" The Winchester asked when he noticed how red her eyes were.

"I have a cold."

"Your eyes don't go red when you cry." Sam pointed out.

Julia rolled her eyes, cursing the fact that Sam used to be her best friend for four years so he literally knew everything about her - including what she looked like when she cried or had a cold. "Well, they do now." She stated firmly.

Sam didn't buy it for one minute. "What's gotten into you Julia? I thought you were going to help my brother find your friend.. I thought you were happy to see me." Julia couldn't take the puppy eyed look that Sam was wearing.

"I was happy to see you." Julia told him genuinely, before changing her tone of voice. "But you need to stay away from me. I'll look for Liz on my own."

The two were silent for a few moments. "Did Peter tell you to stay away from me?" Sam questioned, successfully breaking the silence. It was the only reasonable explanation that he could think of for Julia ignoring him and acting different towards him.

Julia narrowed her eyes defensively. "No, of course not! What makes you think that?"

"You were happy to see me until Peter showed up at the diner." Julia didn't have anything to say to that. "Look, why can't I speak to you anymore then? Jules, this is ridiculous.. you're my best friend."

Julia backed away from Sam and shook her head. "I'm sorry, okay, but I can't speak to you anymore." She unlocked her car and then begun to get into it.

"Julia, wait-"

"No Sam." Julia stated firmly, avoiding eye contact with him. "Just leave it, please."

Sam watched as Julia drove away in her car. He shook his head in disbelief; maybe Dean was right, maybe Julia had changed.. but he knew that it had something to do with Peter.

* * *

><p>After eating lunch at the diner, Dean headed back to the motel room. He opened the door and walked in, surprised to see Sam sat at the table, researching. "Dude, I thought you were out finding that Julia chick?"<p>

Sam didn't look up from the laptop. "Well, apparently she thinks it's best if we don't talk anymore." He pointed out, quite bitterly.

"How come?"

"She didn't really give me a reason. I don't get it; it's got to be something to do with that stupid husband of hers but I did a background check on him and he's clean. Oh, and he happens to own most of the businesses in town."

"So, basically, he's not only a dick but he's a powerful dick?"

Sam frowned, mainly because he was annoyed that Peter seemed so perfect; If he was so perfect then there wasn't much of a chance of him being to blame - which meant that Julia might have chosen not to speak to Sam on her own accord. "It doesn't matter about him anymore anyway." Sam shrugged casually, though Dean could see that the man still bothered him. "If Julia doesn't want to speak to me then she doesn't want to speak to me. But, we still do have a hunt here to solve, and missing people to find."

* * *

><p>Julia opened the door of Liz's apartment and stepped inside. Everything looked exactly the same as it had been before Liz disappeared; On the couch was the book which Liz was reading, her table was cluttered with paper work and bills, and her cereal bowl was still placed beside the kitchen sink. It was as if Liz hadn't even disappeared. Tears started to build up in Julia's eyes when she thought about how much she needed to just be able to talk to Liz right now.<p>

Something was different today though. As soon as Julia walked into the house, a bitter, horrid smell filled her nose and caused her to gag and gasp for air. "What the hell?" She muttered to herself as she walked towards the smell. As she did, it got stronger and stronger and Julia couldn't stop gagging. It was truly one of the most disgusting odors that she had ever smelt in her life.

Julia's hunt for the source of the smell led her to the closed bathroom door. "Oh God!" Julia gasped, the smell becoming unbearable for her. However, she needed to know what it was now. An unsettling feeling gathered in her stomach as she opened the door and walked into the small bathroom. When she did, she completely forgot about the smell; her eyes widened in fear when she saw a trail of crimson liquid leading towards the bathtub, which was hidden by a long shower curtain. The shower curtain was stained with the crimson liquid too.

Shakily, Julia rushed towards the bathtub. When she reached it, she took a deep breath and then pulled back the curtain.

As soon as she did, she let out a blood curdling scream.

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffhanger ;) .. Let me know what you think! Sorry that this chapter was much shorter, but, obviously, there will be much more action in the next one! :D <strong>


	3. Leaving you

_Disclaimer- I own nothing that you recognise._

**A/N: NikNaks93, Christina5139 and Fairy Forsaken**** - Thank you for adding my story to your favourites!  
><strong>**Matsuri Hikari, KissWithAFistx, Fairy Forsaken,NikNaks93, - Thank you for adding my story to your story alerts!  
>SamWLover, NikNaks93 and Fairy Forsaken - Thank you so much for reviewing my story!<br>I hope that you all like this update. :) **

**Chapter three - Leaving you.**

Julia dropped down on to her knees and shook her head in disbelief. "No." She stated, firmly, her voice wobbling slightly. In front over her, covered in blood, lay a mangled, barely recognizable body. She knew that it was Liz because of the blood stained pendant that she had brought her for Christmas the year before. Julia clamped her hand against her mouth to stop herself from crying, but then she felt so repulsed by the sight that she suddenly gagged again. Clambering over to the toilet, she emptied the contents of her stomach into it.

Her friend was dead. Julia let out a wracked sob, barely able to contain herself anymore, as she clung on to the toilet seat to keep herself steady. The smell was back at the front of her mind again, but this time it was accompanied with the eerie fact that the smell was obviously coming from Liz. Julia's heart froze in her chest when she remembered that Liz couldn't have possibly been there before today because she had been in the bathroom for the past few days and the curtains weren't even closed on those days.

Somebody must have put her there.. Julia glanced over at Liz's body and shook her head in sheer disgust; whatever did that to her couldn't have possibly been human. The way that her body was mangled and almost torn apart looked so inhumane and savage. If a human did commit the crime then Julia decided that they were probably sick right down to their core.

Quickly, Julia pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed emergency services. She held her cell phone against her ear and kept her back facing towards the bathtub, as she was too terrified to look anymore. "H-Hello, I'd like to speak to the police please," She began shakily.

* * *

><p>The Impala pulled up outside the block of apartments, and the Winchesters were confused to see two police cars parked up beside it. They had only arrived at the apartments because they decided that they couldn't waste anymore time waiting for Julia to answer Sam's phone calls. Commotion seemed to surround the two police cars, as a crowd of shocked people were watching two police men carry out a body bag. "What the hell?" Dean began before jumping out of the Impala, his brother following quickly behind him. The two Winchesters walked straight over to one of the police men who was walking back into the building. They flashed their badges at him as they followed him inside.<p>

"I'm Agent Perry and this is Agent Tyler," Dean began whilst he watched the police officer briefly glance at their fake IDs. He then placed his back in his pocket and Sam did the same. "We're from out of town and we're investigating the local disappearances. What's going on here?"

The police officer looked quite unsettled at the mention of the events that had just taken place but still didn't stop walking. "A woman who lives here has just been found dead."

"Accident dead or murder dead?" Dean questioned as the two Winchesters followed the police officer into the large building of apartments.

"Murder." The police officer shuddered whilst shaking his head in disgust; never, in the twelve years of which he had worked in this field, had he ever seen such a gruesome, ghastly death. It made his stomach lurch just thinking about what he had just seen. "Her best friend found her."

Dean and Sam briefly glanced at each other. "What's the name of the friend who found her?" Sam asked.

"Julia White."

"Oh crap." Sam muttered under his breath, shaking his head sadly, as the three of them silently got into the lift.

* * *

><p>"Ma'am, I think it's best if you leave now." A police officer advised Julia, once again. But she couldn't. Instead, she watched as people who were strangers to Liz walked into the apartment to examine the bathroom, prod at her belongings and stretch yellow crime scene tape all over the apartment. It was all just a harsh reminder that Liz was dead and she didn't want to believe that it was a reality. So, instead of getting up, leaving the apartment, and facing the world knowing that her best friend wasn't in it anymore, Julia simply ignored any suggestions that the police officers sent her way. "Ma'am, you really need to leave now."<p>

Again, she blocked out his requests and gripped on to the toilet seat tighter, her eyes blurred with tears.

"She's through here," Julia heard a man say as she listened to footsteps approach the bathroom and closed her eyes, knowing that they were heading her way.

"Julia?" She heard Sam's voice and couldn't help but open her eyes; she saw Sam's sympathetic face and immediately burst into a fresh stream of tears. As much as she was terrified of Peter, she needed her only best friend that she had left at that moment in time. Julia stumbled off of the floor and ran towards him.

Sam was completely taken by surprise when she launched herself at him, and he only managed to catch her just in time to stop them from tumbling on to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes when he felt her cry against him. He could never bear hearing Julia cry, especially not back in the Stanford days. Back then, Julia was one of the strongest people, mentally, that he knew. She was never one for crying, not even at really sad romance films - she was always the one to support and listen to the crying people.

But now her role had been bitterly reversed and Sam didn't really know how to cope with it. Whenever Jess used to cry, he would wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything would be okay; but Jess only really ever cried when they had mini arguments, when she was stressed out with assignments, when she had disputes with her friends or when something had happened back in her home town with her family. How could Sam possibly tell Julia that everything would be okay in this situation?

Sam knew what it was like to lose people close to him. He'd experienced the pain of loss and emptiness when his father, Dean, Jess and Madison had been taken from his life. Sam was brought back to the reality of the situation when the sounds of Julia's inconsolable, pained sobs echoed through the room. He looked over to Dean to see that he was also finding it difficult to listen to; the pained cry of any of the people that they came into contact with during hunts were almost always unbearable. But, in time, they had managed to deal with their own emotional reactions to the situations; The two brothers would act professional and detach their emotions from what was happening.

But Sam couldn't do it this time. He pressed a small kiss on to the crown of Julia's head and then rested his chin on that spot. "It's going to be okay." He stated, his voice strained slightly.

The police officer who had walked with the Winchesters to the apartment moved closer to Dean. "Your partner knows the woman?" He questioned.

Dean nodded as he watched his younger brother try to console a woman who had suffered a loss. "Yeah," He cleared his throat and then turned to face the man beside him. "They have history." It wasn't strictly false; the two younger adults did have history, they were obviously very close in Stanford. Also, Dean thought that it would stop the man from asking any questions.

He was relieved when the police officer nodded out of understanding and then slowly backed away to speak to another officer on the scene.

* * *

><p>The two Winchester brothers had managed to pull Julia away from the bathroom. They took her to the kitchen of Liz's kitchen in a bid to calm her down. Dean watched from beside the kitchen door whilst Sam made Julia a glass of water and carried it over to the woman, who was sat at the dining room table, staring off into space. She'd stopped crying now but the evidence was still on her tear strained face.<p>

"Jules, you need to try and drink some of this." Sam knelt down beside Julia and tried to move the cup towards her but she pushed it away. "Julia, please, you need to drink something."

"What I need to drink is a strong scotch on the rocks." Julia stated, her voice void of emotion. She ran her hand through her hair in a frustrated manner and then slammed both of her hands harshly down on to the table. Sam grabbed them into his own in a bid to stop Julia from harming herself.

"I know you're hurting right now," Dean began as he stepped forward. "But I was wondering if you could tell us what happened?"

Julia looked over at Dean. "Do I have to?" She really didn't want to recall what had just happened.

"If you want to find the bastard who did this to your friend then I'll need to know everything." Dean pointed out and Julia knew that he was right. She couldn't understand it, but it was like a fire had started inside of her the moment that she found Liz. It felt like a fire so fierce that it spread through her whole body and made her blood boil. She wanted to find the person who murdered her friend and she wanted to make them pay. So, she knew she had to cooperate.

She took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves. "There isn't much I can tell you. All that happened today was that I popped over like I usually do," Julia couldn't help but smile softly. "I used to pop over to see her everyday, we'd have a cup of coffee and a gossip, then I'd head back home. Even though she disappeared, I couldn't help but come back here everyday just to keep an eye on things, y'know?" She gulped back a sob as she continued. "There was this horrible smell today.. it was just so-" Julia cut herself off and shook her head in disgust before looking at each of the Winchesters with a serious expression on her face. "It was the most vile thing I had ever smelt in my life."

"What did it smell like?" Dean asked, whilst Sam just listened for any information that would help them solve this case.

Julia gave him an odd look. "What sort of question is that? Look, I can't even describe the smell without wanting to throw up everywhere." She tried to block out the memory of the smell before continuing. "I followed the smell into the bathroom and that's where I found-" Julia couldn't finish her sentence but Sam and Dean understood what she was saying to them. She thought about Liz again, and all the pain and suffering that she must have been in before she died, and she started crying hysterically again.

"Julia?"

Dean turned towards the door to see that Peter was storming into the kitchen, and he rolled his eyes. There was something about the guy that just made him want to hit him square in the face.

Sam looked at Peter and saw that he had a disinterested look on his face, which caused the Winchester to raise his eyebrow in confusion. Surely a husband would look concerned that his wife was practically hyperventilating because she couldn't stop crying. Peter didn't even look the slightest bit sympathetic.

"Julia." Peter stated firmly this time, causing her to hear him properly.

Julia sprang up from her chair and ran towards her husband. She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, but he didn't react. He just stared down at his wife, his arms dangling down by his sides. Sam and Dean shared a glance. "I heard what happened to Liz." Peter stated, unemotionally. He then looked up to glare at both Sam and Dean.

"Woah, what are the death looks for man?" Dean demanded, sick and tired of the guy's attitude.

Peter smirked. "I don't know what you are talking about."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Well, for one, you look like you don't give a rat's ass about how much pain your wife is in.. and, two, well, if you give me that look one more time then you'll regret it buddy."

"What did you just say to me?" Peter yelled as he pushed Julia away from him and stormed up to the older Winchester. "I own this town 'buddy', and I'll look at you how I want. Just like I'll tell you that if the two of you come near my wife again then there will be hell to pay!"

"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.." The oldest Winchester smirked causing Sam to glare at his brother for speaking about his time in hell as if it didn't even affect him.

Sam stepped forward too and joined his brother's side. "So you're the reason why Julia wouldn't talk to me properly today?" He directed his question to Peter, his eyes narrowed. "She isn't a puppet, you can't tell her what to do."

"But she's my wife. What are you to her; an old friend that she hasn't seen in years? An old friend that she probably had forgotten about until you had to drive through this town?"

Julia rushed over to the three men and grabbed on to Peter's arm. "Peter, please, just leave it." Peter ignored Julia's plea though; he simply pushed her away and began to advance on Sam, his fists at the ready.

Dean saw this coming, however, and shoved Peter away from them both, causing him to fall on to the floor. "Come on Sam, this jerk isn't worth it." As much as he wanted to punch Peter in the face, Dean knew that it would only cause complications. After all, the man owned most of the town. If they were going to solve the hunt then they couldn't upset the owner of the town too much.

Sam looked briefly over to Julia to see that she was at Peter's side, checking if he was okay, and the Winchester shook his head. Julia was hooked, line and sinker, on this jerk. "If you need anything, just let me know." He spoke out to Julia.

"She doesn't need anything from you!" Peter exclaimed angrily causing Julia to flinch.

She looked over at Sam quickly and offered him a small, sympathetic smile before turning back to Peter.

Sam turned away from them and stormed out of the room, his brother following closely behind him.

As soon as they had left the room, Peter grabbed Julia's face, pressing his fingers into either side of her cheeks, and frowned at her. "What the hell were you doing talking to them?"

Julia couldn't help but raise her eyebrow, even though she was worried about Peter would do. "I just found Liz dead Peter!" Julia's words came out strained due to the fact that there was pressure either side of her mouth. "Sam's brother's a detective and-"

"I don't give a rats ass about why they were here." Peter sat up in his space and tightened his grip of her cheeks. "I thought I told you that I didn't want you to even think about them!"

"But Liz is dead." Julia began, her eyes glimmered with fresh tears.

Peter let out a laugh. "'But Liz is dead'," He began to mock his wife, causing her to release her tears. "I don't give a shit Julia. That bitch friend of yours was always leading you astray.. maybe now you can concentrate on your number one priority." How could he not care that Liz was dead? "Your number one priority is me, y'get that?"

"How can you speak about her like that Peter?" Julia didn't 'get that'. She hated how Peter was talking about Liz; it was disrespectful and sick. The anger that was bubbling through her blood was slowly rising to the surface. She pushed Peter away from her and moved away from him. "You're sick."

Peter narrowed his eyes. "What did you just say to me?" He demanded as he jumped up from the floor and advanced on her.

Julia didn't back down this time. She stood toe to toe with the man who had abused her for years and narrowed her eyes. "Do you know what?" She began, her voice deadly low. "I've been putting up with your crap for years! You took me away from my dream, you've placed me into a job which I absolutely hate, you belittle me and you attack me like I'm a piece of shit on the floor." Julia poked a very stunned Peter in the chest and narrowed her tear filled eyes. "I've had enough! I should have just listened to Liz and Becky, they always told me that the way you treat me isn't fair but I never had the strength to actually see where they were coming from. You're a sick, sadistic man and do you know what?" Julia moved away from Peter and headed towards the door. "I can't stand to even look at you anymore. I'm leaving."

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" Peter growled, his voice menacing. Julia stopped walking and just stood on the spot for a moment with closed eyes. Moments like this used to make her terrified out of her mind, they used to make her run back to Peter and beg for forgiveness.

But not this time. She was frightened of how he was reacting, but those feelings inside of her were overpowered by anger and disgust. Julia turned around to face Peter briefly. "Go to hell." She muttered as she quickly scurried out of the kitchen.

"Stupid bitch." Peter growled as he chased after her. When he got out of the kitchen, however, he saw that there were still loads of police men in the apartment. He slammed his hand against the kitchen door and narrowed his eyes in determination.

* * *

><p>"Thank you so much for letting me stay." Julia began as she walked into Becky's apartment.<p>

Becky simply shook her head as the two of them walked towards the lounge. Julia had poured her heart out on the phone to her earlier, and had told Becky everything that Peter had done, and Becky practically forced her to come and stay for as long as she needed. "It's no trouble at all. I'm just glad that you've finally seen some sense." She walked towards Julia and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry about Liz." Becky knew Liz, but they weren't really friends as Julia and Becky only knew each other through work. She couldn't understand the pain that Julia was going through right now.

Julia closed her eyes and, even though she was so upset, she couldn't help but feel safe for once in her life. She always thought that plucking up the courage to leave Peter would have been the hardest thing that she'd ever had to do, but now that it'd happened she decided that it was in fact the easiest thing she had ever done. A huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders and, although she'd just lost her dearest friend, she felt free.

Julia decided that from that day forward she would never let Peter near her ever again.

"Where are your things?" Becky asked as she pulled away from the hug and the two of them sat down at a couch.

"I couldn't risk going back to the house." Julia began as she shook her head at herself. "I know that this sounds stupid but I'm scared that he'll lock me up if I ever step foot in the house again."

Becky scowled. "I hate that man so much! D'you know what? I'll go and get your stuff for you first thing in the morning."

"Don't you have a shift?"

"Nope. There's no way in hell that I'm working for that sick bastard."

Julia raised her eyebrow. "But how do you expect to get a job in a town which he owns?"

Becky scoffed. "He doesn't own every building in town. I'm bound to find a job somewhere." Her eyes narrowed in determination. "But, tomorrow morning, I will be heading straight over to that house, grabbing your stuff and giving the man a piece of my mind."

Julia's lips stretched into a small smile. "Thank you so much for everything Bex, I should have listened to you in the first place." She stated softly, before adding, "And Liz too."

Moving away from Peter was the first step that she needed to take to break away from him. Tomorrow, she was going to do everything in her power to find the person who murdered Liz, and, after that, she was going to leave the town for good.

* * *

><p><strong>Let me know what you think! :)<strong>


	4. Surprise visit

_Disclaimer- I own nothing that you recognise._

**A/N: Sam and Deans crazy ass wench**** - Thank you for adding my story to your favourites!  
><strong>**CBH24, Sam and Deans crazy ass wench - Thank you for adding my story to your story alerts!  
>SamWLover, NikNaks93, Fairy Forsaken and Sam and Deans crazy ass wench - Thank you so much for reviewing my story!<br>I hope that you all like this update. :) **

**Chapter four - Surprise visit**

After a restless night of no sleep whatsoever, Julia decided that getting up at six in the morning to hand in her resignation and collect some things from her locker at work wasn't such a bad idea. She knew that Peter would still be sleeping as he never woke up until ten unless he had some sort of meeting to prepare for. As she walked out into the cool, morning air, she felt the reality of leaving Peter hit her like a ton of bricks. The night before, she'd been constantly mourning the loss of her best friend so she'd never got the opportunity to really think about the fact that she'd put a stop to her relationship with her husband.

Julia was scared about being on her own and a part of her wanted to run back to Peter and beg him to take her back. But she knew that she couldn't do that; The stronger part of her mind screamed at her that if she went back then he'd go back to exactly what he was like before she left - and she'd be punished very harshly for walking out on him. Even though Julia always imagined leaving Peter being the hardest thing she'd ever have to do, actually walking away from him was in fact the easiest thing that she'd ever done in her life.

She wanted nothing more than to take the money that she had been saving from her job and head straight out of town but she needed to do one last thing, and that was to find Liz's murderer.

* * *

><p>"You're lucky that I've arrived here so early this morning," The woman said as she sat down behind her desk and watched as the two Winchesters did the same. "What state did you say you were from again?"<p>

"Texas." Dean replied before clearing his throat. "So, what's the post mortem report on Elizabeth Raymont?"

The Winchesters watched as the woman pulled out a file, opened it and pushed it towards them. Sam took it in his hands and began to read it, his eyebrows raising almost every second. "She scratched herself to death?" He questioned, his eyes wide with shock.

Dean raised his eyebrow at that before turning his direction back to the woman. "Seriously?"

"Cells from her body tissue were found on the tips of her nails and vice versa. Also, her nails were practically drenched in blood." The woman shook her head in disbelief. "Don't ask me how, or why, but Elizabeth Raymont definitely did this to herself."

The youngest Winchester pushed the file towards his brother, as the images of Liz's body were too gruesome. Dean took the folder and looked at the images himself, his stomach turning; if there was ever a time when he would be put off of his breakfast then it would of been at that moment. "Jesus." Dean knew one thing for sure, and that was that the hunt was slowly beginning to look more and more supernatural related as the days went by.

* * *

><p>Becky woke up with a start to sounds of clattering and banging. She raised her eyebrow sleepily as she glanced around her room; it was still slightly dark but she could see properly when she squinted her eyes. "What the hell?" She mumbled to herself as she listened to the sounds for a few more moments. "Julia?" Becky called out loudly, slightly annoyed that she'd been woken up so early when she wasn't going to even go into work.<p>

When it was clear that the noises were not going to stop, and that they were slowly becoming louder and more frequent, Becky jumped out of her bed and stormed towards her bedroom door. Something wasn't right.. Julia wasn't the sort of person to be rude in somebody else's house, and she certainly would of stopped making the noises when Becky called out her name. "Julia?" Becky called out again as she stepped out of her bedroom door and headed towards the source of the noise.

Becky's hunt for the noise led her to her kitchen. She opened the door and as soon as she stepped into the room the noise abruptly stopped. "What the-" She cut herself off, however, when she saw a figure on the other side of the room, just standing there and facing her. It was still too dark for Becky to recognize who it was but she knew that the person standing on the other side of the room was not Julia. "Who are you?" She demanded before reaching behind her and swiftly pressing the light switch. Her eyes widened when the light bulb didn't turn on, and she tried a few times - but there was still no light. "I just asked you a question!" Becky exclaimed as she became and more panicked by the second.

The figure walked forward and Becky's heart started to race with fear. All she wanted to do was turn around, run in the other direction and call the cops but something was literally stopping her from moving. She couldn't even blink and it terrified the hell out of her because she had no idea why. "What's going on?" Becky asked as she tried to move with all of her might, to no avail.

An inhumane laugh echoed from inside the figure as it came closer and closer. "You should have just stayed out of it." The voice was so distorted that Becky couldn't decided whether it was male or female.

"St-stay out of what?" Becky questioned, her voice strained. "Please just let me go." She begged.

"It's too late now." Within the blink of an eye, the figure was stood directly in front of Becky. Even though it was so close, she still couldn't properly see any physical features. The figure reeked of something that was so disgusting that Becky had to gag. It was an foul odor that she had never experienced before and it was rapidly becoming too much to bear.

A long, crooked hand came towards Becky and began to stroke her left cheek, causing her to flinch away. "Please leave me alone." Becky pleaded, her eyes stinging with tears that were mainly caused by the smell - but her fear was also party to fault.

The figure laughed again, but this time the laugh was cruel and harsh. "You're going to sit down on one of your kitchen chairs and then you are going to scratch both of your legs until there is nothing left. Then I think you will also do the same to every other part of your body. If anyone tries to stop you, then you will kill them."

Becky was about to down right refuse to do any of those things. Every morsel of her wanted to tell the figure that it was sick and twisted and that there was no way it could make her do that.. but then she started to move towards the chair. "No," Becky muttered as she tried to stop herself from moving.

It was no use. No matter how much she tried to fight her body movement, she was slowly heading towards the table and there was nothing that she could do to stop herself.

* * *

><p>"Is there anything that could possibly be responsible for causing a person to practically skin themselves alive?" Dean asked his brother whilst driving the Impala towards the diner. The images of the body were still fresh in his mind and he couldn't understand why somebody would do that to themselves.<p>

Sam shook his head. "Not that I know of. Obviously we're dealing with something that has the power to control the actions of people - so, the only two things that I can think of, off of the top of my head, are a witch or a human."

"A human?" Dean raised his eyebrow in a confused manner.

"Yeah, maybe one with powers like I used to have. Except, instead of psychic visions they can-"

"Control the actions of other people." Dean finished, cutting off his brother's explanation. "Kind of like that Andy kid we met?"

The youngest Winchester nodded. "Just like him. Except, if this thing really is just a human with special powers, it sounds more like Andy's evil twin."

Dean rolled his eyes. "I hated that kid."

"We've got to be careful Dean.. if my theory is right then that means that we could be dealing with anybody in this town."

"But we could narrow our selection down by finding out who had a grudge against Liz. I mean, you don't just make someone do that unless they really get on your nerves."

The conversation was abruptly cut off by the sound of Sam's cell phone ringing. He pulled it out from his pocket and looked down at the screen, before glancing cautiously over to his brother and then declining the call.

"Who was that?" Dean asked, not once taking his eyes away from the road.

Sam shrugged too quickly. "No one important." He glanced over casually at his brother to see that Dean's hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Was it the demon bitch?"

"Dean," Sam sighed, causing his brother to scoff.

"What?" Dean demanded with a raised voice. "Just because she saved you whilst I was gone doesn't mean we can trust her Sammy! At the end of the day, she will always be a demon.. an evil, disgusting bitch of a demon."

"I declined her call."

"But you were speaking to her this morning before we left for the morgue."

"You were listening in on me?" Sam demanded in an annoyed tone.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, you couldn't have made it any more obvious you were on the phone to that bitch!" Sam went to open his mouth but Dean cut him off. "You know that I don't like you using your powers - they aren't natural and they're just going to bring loads of trouble that we sure as hell don't need with the God damned apocalypse looming over us!"

Sam narrowed his eyes. "She can help me kill Lilith!"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore Sam." Dean stated firmly, his eyes still on the road. "If I see her within a hundred yards of us then I won't hesitate in shooting her."

The youngest Winchester went to protest but his brother lent over and turned on the radio, turning the volume up to it's highest. Dean then moved back and started humming to the song, causing Sam to fold his arms and glare out of the window.

No matter how many times he tried explaining that Ruby was trustworthy, Dean would never listen to him.

* * *

><p>Julia sat down beside her locker, pulled the empty cardboard box into her lap and started to pull her things into it. She didn't really have a lot to put into the large box, mainly because most of her things were stored back at Peter's house. But she did keep her passport, an emergency stash of money and some old pictures in the locker as she didn't really have anywhere personal back at the house to put it all, and with Pete snooping around in her belongings nothing was ever really safe back at the house.<p>

Other things that were in her locker included a small sweater and a few pictures of her and Pete. She placed the box to the side and glanced at the pictures in her hands. the first one was of the two of them when they first started dating; Pete had his arm slung protectively around Julia's shoulders whilst they both beamed into the camera. Julia was still at Stanford at that point and they were on their tenth date at a local fair. Julia couldn't help but smile at the memory - Peter was such a gentleman back in that time of their relationship and would never turn angry towards her. Back in those days, Peter was only in California on a holiday.

But then she looked at the next few pictures and the memories of him changing came back to her mind. Instead of having his arms slung protectively around her, in these pictures, Peter has his arms tightly around her shoulders. His stance made him seem like he held a lot of authority over Julia, whilst, instead of beaming, her lips were curled into a fake smile that never quite reached her eyes. She was no longer at Stanford in those pictures and had moved to the town that Peter resided in when he had needed to head back. Julia realized how foolish she had been; their relationship was so fast paced that she'd never got to know what type of man he truly was until it was too late.

Julia narrowed her eyes as she ripped each of those four photos into tiny little shreds. She then stood up from the floor, her cardboard box in hand, and walked out of the staff room with her head held high.

* * *

><p>Just as the Impala pulled up outside the diner, Julia had walked out of the building. Sam glanced over to his brother. "D'you reckon we should try questioning her again? She might know who had it in for Liz." It was the first time that either of the brothers had uttered a word since their mini dispute on the way to the diner.<p>

Dean observed Julia for a few moments. She still looked completely grief stricken but also as if she hadn't had a wink of sleep. The Winchester knew that there was a slim chance that she'd agree to talk to them about Liz just one day after she'd found her dead but he decided it was worth a chance. Even though Peter had forbidden them making contact with her, Dean couldn't care less. He honked the horn of the car causing Julia to turn in their direction. Dean motioned for her to walk to the car.

When he did, Sam expected Julia to turn the other way and obey the rule that Peter had made. But to his surprise, and his brother's, Julia offered them a small smile and headed towards the car. Both Sam and Dean got out of the Impala and met Julia as she reached them. "Hi." She stated, her voice quiet.

"How are you holding up?" Sam asked her softly.

Julia looked down to the floor for a few moments and then looked back up at both of the Winchesters, tears glistening in her eyes. "I'm fine," She lied, and Sam knew that she had. Julia turned her attention to Dean. "Have you found anything else out about who did this to her?" She spoke with such fire and determination for revenge that it concerned both of the Winchesters.

"Yes, we have." Dean began but before he could tell her what they had found out, Sam nudged him. "Ow! What was that for man?"

Sam walked closer to Julie and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I think we need to go somewhere quiet. Is there a room in the diner where we can speak to you in private?" Sam asked, but then his voice turned bitter. "I mean, obviously we can't go back to your house because Peter would probably be angry."

Julia narrowed her eyes briefly at Sam. "There is, but I don't work there anymore.. and, FYI, I don't live with Pete anymore. I left the bastard and his stupid job."

Both of the Winchesters looked surprised; it was as if Julia's attitude had done a 360 degree flip. "Why?" Sam asked, stunned.

"Long story cut short - He's a sadistic, vile, pathetic excuse for a human being and I've had enough." Sam couldn't help but smile; The old Julia, the Julia that he knew and loved, was slowly coming back alive. Julia then placed a hand on her hip when she realized that the subject had been so suddenly changed. "What have you found out about Liz's killer?"

"Is there somewhere else private that we can talk about this?" Dean asked.

"I'm living with a friend temporarily, I'm sure she won't mind if we head over there to discuss this." Julia walked past the brothers and got into the back of the Impala, causing both Winchesters to raise their eyebrows. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

Dean sighed. "I guess we'll have to wait to eat until later.." He trailed off before getting back into the car.

Sam stood in his spot for a few moments. He wasn't really sure how to feel; On one hand, he was glad that Julia was slowly getting back to her old self and that she'd left the man who was obviously a dick to her.. but, on the other, he was worried about her. It was obvious that she was masking up all of her feelings about Liz's death. She'd gone from being a crying wreck to a determined, slightly bitter woman who wanted revenge. Sam knew how the path of revenge could slowly consume a person and he didn't want it taking Julia off of the edge.

* * *

><p>When they arrived outside of the block of apartments, Julia watched as the two brothers got out of the car. "Could I talk to Sam really quickly?" She questioned as she joined them outside.<p>

She watched as Sam and Dean glanced at each other before Dean nodded. "Yeah, sure, I'll catch you guys up in a minute." He stated.

Julia and Sam walked away from the Impala and stood in front of the entrance of the apartments. "What's up?" Sam asked with a smile.

"I'm sorry." Julia began as she looked at Sam with an apologetic expression. "Peter told me to stay away from you and I had to. I didn't want to, but I was scared and didn't want to make him angry." She watched as Sam's facial expression turned angry. "Are you mad at me?"

Sam shook his head as he took one of her hands in his own. "No, Jules, how could I be angry at you? I'm angry at that Jackass but not at you."

Julia smiled and then pulled her hand. She wrapped her arms around him, relieved that he wasn't upset with her.

The youngest Winchester couldn't help but smile widely as he wrapped his own arms around her and placed his chin on the top of her head. The two stayed like that for a while. "I'm sorry about Liz." Sam stated genuinely. He felt Julia's whole body go stiff and watched as she pulled away from him with a look of determination on her face.

"Me too." She stated, before adding, "And I'm also sorry for the son of a bitch who murdered her. I'm going to make him pay.."

Sam was about to say something else but he saw Dean walk towards them. "You guys done with the chick flick moment?" He asked, causing Julia to raise her eyebrow.

"The what moment?" She asked Sam whilst the three of them walked into the block of apartments.

"Don't ask." Sam muttered as he watched her walk ahead and show them the way. All of the pain and anger in Julia genuinely hurt him; he knew what it was like to lose someone and to see his best friend go through the same thing was difficult. He then thought about how difficult it would be to tell Julia that Liz did it to herself, and to not be able to explain the fact that the death was supernatural related. Sam hated lying but he couldn't exactly tell her the truth, could he?

* * *

><p><strong>Kind of a little bit of a cliffhanger.. I'm sorry! (Muahaha)<br>Anyway, I bet you're all wondering what the hell happened to Becky. Also, Peter wasn't in this chapter.. I bet you're wondering what's he up to now that I've mentioned it! All will be revealed in the next chapter. Please review and let me know what you think.  
><strong>**Take care,  
><strong>**SPNfan16  
>xxx <strong>


	5. Secrets

_Disclaimer- I own nothing that you recognise._

**A/N: I'm sorry for taking so long to update! It's been pretty hectic here. I hope that you enjoy this chapter!  
>Also, Thank you so much to everyone who is reading, reviewing and alerting! I love you guys. :) <strong>

**Chapter five - Secrets**

Becky continued slicing into her second leg. The pain was still immense but she had no energy left to even muster out a scream. Her voice had slowly disappeared completely, and had been replaced by a hoarse whimper. Every single time the knife sliced into her body, she had to bite back an agonizing scream of terror. What the hell was happening? Why the hell was it happening?

The figure had disappeared long before Becky had finished cutting her first leg to pieces and yet she still couldn't stop herself from doing it.

Suddenly, the door of the flat opened and she heard the voices of three people, one of which she identified as Julia. "Becky?"

Becky's eyes widened. "I'm in the ki-" Her hoarse, quiet voice was barely audible to even herself. She cut herself off from finishing her sentence because she knew that it was no use when the volume of her pleas was far too low.

The silence that followed tormented Becky for what seemed like hours, when in actual fact it only lasted a few seconds. "Oh, I guess she's not in. She's probably getting my stuff from Peter."

_I'M HERE! _Becky thought to herself frantically, more and more tears slipping down her cheeks by the second. "

Hurry up and make your way into the lounge so you can tell me what the hell happened to Liz." Becky's heart dropped but then rose up again when she heard Becky ask, "Oh, and would you like something to eat or drink?"

_Please say yes. Please say yes. For the love of God, whoever you are, please say yes._

"Nah, as hungry as I am, I'm saving room in my stomach for the amazing bacon sandwiches at the diner later."

"What about you Sam?"

"I'm good thank you."

Becky closed her eyes in disbelief as she continued to slice into her leg, but then a look of determination dawned over her features. With all of the strength that she had left inside of her, she stomped her foot on to the ground. The pain was so immense that she cried out in agony, before continuing to try and make herself heard. No matter how much agony she was in, she continued to repeatedly hit her leg hardly against the floor.

* * *

><p>Sam and Dean sat down beside each other on the couch and watched as Julia paced around in front of them. She continued this action for a few moments before finally settling on one spot of the floor and turning to face them both. "So, who wants to explain to me what really happened to Liz?"<p>

The two Winchesters shared a glance and then Dean averted his attention back to a very concerned Julia. "Your friend Liz did it to herself." Although he'd come out with it straight away, his tone was soft.

Julia's mouth immediately dropped open, her eyes widened in shook, and she shook her head in disbelief- all at the same time. She found herself completely speechless as she looked between the two Winchester brothers. "N-no way," She stuttered after finally finding her voice. "Liz would never do something like that to herself! This is all a pile of bull shit!"

"I'm sorry Julia," Dean stated genuinely, eyeing the frantic woman carefully. "But all of the evidence points to that theory."

"It's just a theory though!"

"The coroner's report stated clearly that they found tissue from her wounds in her finger nails, and that tissue from her finger nails were in her wounds-"

"How do you know this?" Julia demanded, causing Sam to abruptly cut off his sentence. "You're not even a detective.." Her eyebrow raised in consideration as she looked at Sam.

Dean shrugged. "He's my brother and he travels around the country with me.. we don't keep secrets from each other."

"Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that your brother shouldn't be allowed to let you know the details of a case." Julia ignored Dean's comment and carried on with her rant. She didn't mean to be so snappy with Sam but the idea of Liz actually causing that much pain to herself was unbearable to think about. Besides, she was becoming quite suspicious by the glances that the brothers were now sharing.

Sam turned back to her and sighed. She knew immediately by the look in his eyes that Sam Winchester was about to lie to her. "I know that detectives aren't supposed to-"

"Sam," Julia began, cutting off the youngest Winchester yet again. "I know when you're lying to me - and you're doing it now.. So," She looked at each of the Winchesters again, her eyebrow raised. "Anyone want to tell me the truth?"

The Winchesters stayed silent for a few moments, as did Julia, and that was when they all heard the noise; It was the sound of faint, repetitive banging. They wouldn't have been able to hear it if they were still talking but, now that they were silent, all three adults knew that they were hearing something from the other room.

"Did you hear that?" Dean spoke up after listening to the sound for a while.

"Yep." Sam and Julia muttered at the same time.

All three of them were soon on their feet and were walking towards the source of the noise. Sam stopped Julia, however, and briefly turned to face her. "Stay in here."

"Why?"

"Just sit down, we'll be back in just a second."

Julia shook her head. "No way Sam. I'm coming with you."

Sam sighed and Julia could sense the urgency in Sam's expression, stance and voice. "Jules, honestly, I need you to stay in here."

"Sam, no way. I'm coming with you.. this isn't even your apartment." Julia pointed out as she tried to walk past him. Sam saw it coming, however, and grabbed her arm. "What the hell? Let go of me." Julia tried to pull her arm back away from him but his grip tightened slightly.

"Sorry, Julia, but I am not going to let you go out there." The youngest Winchester stated in a firm and low voice before pushing her back towards the couch. "Now stop being so stubborn, Goddamnit, and stay here until we get back!" Without giving Julia a chance to argue back, Sam moved away from her and stormed towards the lounge door.

Julia didn't object this time. "Jackass." She muttered to herself before recluctantly sitting onto the couch.

Sam had only ever shouted at her like that once before, and it was a pretty stupid reason to be doing so.

_"Julia!" Sam scolded his friend as if he was telling off a young toddler. He held up the board game in his hand and frowned deeply. "What the hell are you doing with this?"_

_Julia shrugged as her eyebrows knitted closely together in confusion. "It's just a harmless board game, chill out..." She was sat down on the couch of her apartment._

_Sam let out a bitter laugh and paced around in front of Julia. "Chill out? Harmless board game?" He mimicked her words angrily which only caused her to become annoyed._

_"Jesus, what the hell is your problem?" Julia rolled her eyes. "It's not like any of that stuff is real." Sam stopped pacing around at those words and stormed closer to her, his eyes glowering. _

_"Don't ever touch one of these again!" He gripped the board tightly, relieved that he had walked in before she started playing with it. _

_Julia looked down to the floor, surprised by her usually calm friend's temper. She'd never seen him so angry before and it kind of frightened her. "I was just curious and I only wanted to see if it worked so I could try and speak to my gran."_

_Sam noticed that Julia was upset and embrassed about the whole situation. He felt bad about yelling, so he sighed to himself and then moved to sit down next to her. "Julia, these things only attract bad energy."_

_His friend's head shot up. "You believe in this stuff?"_

**Damn it,** _Sam thought as he quickly thought of a lie to save himself. "No, of course not, it's all complete crap..." He trailed off, before adding, "It's just what I've heard from people who actually do believe in all of it." The Winchester draped his arm around his friend and pulled her closer. "I'm sorry for yelling Julia."_

_Silence crept between the two for just a few moments, and Sam was beginning to worry that Julia wouldn't forgive him. But, to his utter relief, she rested her head on his shoulder and shrugged. "It's okay, you're just kind of scary when you yell and I had no idea you had that side to you." Sam raised his eyebrow at that and Julia laughed. "Well, at least you actually have a pair. Jessica will be relieved." She teased._

_The two friends continued to talk, laugh and joke with each other for another hour or so and then Sam left to burn and dispose of the Ouija Board. _

_Julia never touched one again._

* * *

><p>"Wow, you ain't usually that angry." Dean observed as he and his brother walked towards the source of the noise.<p>

Sam rolled his eyes. "Well, sometimes Julia can be so stubborn." He muttered grumpily. Deep down, he did feel bad about yelling at her, but then he realized that it was really the only way to make her see sense. Whatever this noise was, Sam simply didn't like the sound of it so there was no way that he wanted to risk Julia's life if it turned out to be something dangerous.

The two Winchesters stopped in front of the kitchen door and glanced at each other before Dean stepped forward to push the door open. As soon as he did, the noise intensified and the Winchesters knew that they were heading in the right direction. "Hello?" The oldest Winchester called out before the two of them walked right into the kitchen.

When they did, they came face to face with the sight of Becky; She was sitting on the chair, surrounded by a puddle of crimson blood and was weakly digging into her leg. Both of her legs were chopped into pieces and some of the dead flesh lay on the floor. Sam had to look away for a split second, repulsed by the sight. "Jesus!" He muttered when he noticed the knife.

Becky looked up to them, her eyes drooping heavily. They took one look at her face and realized, judging by her tainted blue lips and pale complexion, that she probably didn't have a lot of time left.

Dean rushed straight to Becky's side and pried to knife from her hand. He chucked it on to the floor and then grabbed her hands in his. "What happened?"

"H-help me," Becky took a deep breath to steady herself, her eyes pooled with fresh tears. "Figure-" Suddenly, the young lady fell straight into Dean's chest causing him to stagger back slightly. He managed to regain his balance and cradled the vulnerable lady in his arms.

"Sammy, we need to get her to a hospital.. now!" He pulled them both up from the floor and began to walk towards his brother, trying to block out the fact that his clothes and body were being stained with blood.

Sam shook his head in disbelief. He'd seen a lot during his time hunting but this shocked him. "She's lost so much blood Dean," He observed, his eyes scanning the floor, her body and Dean's soaked clothes.

"Well, we'd better stop her from losing anymore. Look, you'd better distract Julia whilst I take her friend here to the hospital.. if she sees another one of her friends like this then she'll probably be pushed over the edge."

"What the hell do I say about the big puddle of blood in the kitchen?" Sam demanded, becoming more and more panicked by the second.

Dean shook his head. "You'll think of something," He nudged his brother towards the door. "Now go and distract Sammy."

"R-right." Sam muttered before taking one last look at Becky. Her eyes were still closed but he could see that she was still breathing because her chest kept rising and falling.

* * *

><p>Sam walked back into the lounge to see Julia still sat down at the couch. She immediately whipped her head in his direction and frowned. "Is everything okay?" Her voice was laced in concern.<p>

"Erm, yeah, it's all good." The youngest Winchester avoided her stare as he walked over and joined her on the couch.

"What was the noise?"

"Dean reckons that it's just the taps."

Julia seemed to fall for what he was saying. "Where's Dean?"

"He got called away to speak to a local cop." Sam's lies came out easier this time round. How? He didn't know. The two stared at each other for a few moments and then Sam felt guilt rise in his stomach. "I'm sorry about shouting earlier."

He breathed a sigh of relief when Julia gave him a hug. "It's okay Sam. It was part of the job." She pulled away from him and smiled softly, even though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thank you for being such a good friend."

The guilt in his stomach seemed to intensify. He wasn't being a good friend; he was lying to her. Sam forced a smile on to his face, nonetheless. "It's okay."

"I can't wait for Becky to come back with all of my things." Julia stated out loud, more to herself than Sam. She'd been thinking about how the closure of her relationship with Pete would only come once she had all of her own possessions with her.

Sam's face dropped. He was suddenly reminded of what he had witnessed in the kitchen and realized that he hadn't cleaned the blood up yet.

"Sammy, is something wrong?" He was jerked back to reality when he felt Julia's hand gently touch his left shoulder.

The youngest Winchester shook his head immediately. "No, I'm so happy that you've finally left that Jerk." He needed to get Julia out of the apartment; if she saw the blood then she'd be broken. "How about we go back to the motel room that me and Dean are staying in?"

Julia's eyebrow rose and Sam blushed.

"I didn't mean like _that_," He pointed out before smirking slightly. Julia couldn't help but laugh, even if it wasn't a happy one. "It's just that all of the answers that you want are back there."

Julia thought about this for a few moments. "You'll tell me what's really going on?"

Sam nodded reluctantly. "Yes."

"Pinky promise?" Julia tilted her head to the side and held her pink up in the air.

The youngest Winchester looped his in hers. "I pinky promise." He repeated before dropping his hand back down to his side.

Julia stood up from the couch and started walking towards the lounge door. Sam immediately got up and followed her, fearing the notion of her going into the kitchen. He couldn't believe that he was going to tell her everything. Sam didn't know how she would take it.. but he figured that she would be angry with him for lying.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope that this chapter didn't suck too much! Peter will be back in the next one and you'll start getting clues about who is doing all of this. Oh, and Julia finds out everything. Let me know what you think! :D <strong>


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